THE HIRING PROCESS

ROSE-HULMAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

What is Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology?

Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology is a primarily undergraduate coeducational college offering majors in engineering, science, and mathematics. Admissions standards are high with most entering students ranking in the upper 10% of their high school classes. There are approximately 2000 undergraduate students and 170 faculty.

Rose-Hulman was founded in 1874. After being known for many years as Rose Polytechnic Institute, its name was changed in 1971 to Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. For over 140 years Rose-Hulman has been providing industry with exceptionally well-educated and highly qualified scientists and engineers.

The mission of Rose-Hulman is to provide our students with the world’s best undergraduate science, engineering, and mathematics education in an environment of individual attend and support. For the past 16 years U.S. News and World Report has ranked Rose-Hulman as the best engineering college in the country that does not offer a Ph.D. An endowment of $200 million provides significant help in funding the $100,000,000 annual budget.

The curricula in biomedical engineering, chemical engineering, civil engineering, computer engineering, electrical engineering, engineering physics, mechanical engineering, optical engineering, and software engineering are accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET, www.abet.org. The computer science program is accredited by the Computing Accreditation Commission of ABET, www.abet.org. The curriculum in chemistry is accredited by the Committee on Professional Training of the American Chemical Society.

The CSSE department has a Master of Science in Software Engineering. This program is geared for the working professional and most classes are taught in the Indianapolis metropolitan area. A growing number of master’s degrees are also offered in Biomedical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Engineering Management, Environmental Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Optical Engineering. Most of these are on campus programs, some with research focus and others for the working professional.

What is the Rose-Hulman campus like?

The campus is located on the eastern edge of Terre Haute, Indiana. Most academic buildings are connected so that one can usually walk between buildings without going outside. Most laboratories are new and well equipped. All laboratories have been remodeled within the last twenty years. During the past ten years more than $8,000,000 has been spent on laboratory and instructional equipment. In 1997 a $4,500,000 Advanced Learning Center funded by the F.W.Olin Foundation was completed. It provides eight classrooms equipped with modern computing and multimedia equipment. All on-campus residence hall rooms and all classrooms are connected to the campus computer network; wireless networking is available throughout campus. All classrooms used for computer science instruction have network connections for all students and a projector that can be used with the instructor’s computer. Classrooms are modernized on a regular schedule to update facilities and to enhance opportunities for teamwork and active learning.

Residence halls on the campus house over 1,300 students, with several new residence halls built over the past few years. Other students live in fraternity houses or apartments located in Terre Haute or near the campus. In 1997, a completely new Sports and Recreation Center (including a swimming pool) was opened. Construction of a new Performing Arts and Alumni Center was completed in 2003. In 2011 the Branam Innovation Center was opened on campus and is home to several student project teams. The beautifully-kept 200-acre campus includes two lakes, two creeks, wooded hills, meadows, tennis courts, and intramural sports and recreation fields. The Heritage Road Trail goes through campus and connects campus to downtown and Indiana State University, and major parks.

What might I have heard about Rose-Hulman?

Many people are familiar with Rose-Hulman because of the activities of its faculty. Staff at NSF have remarked on the quality of the Instrumentation and Laboratory Improvement proposals prepared by Rose-Hulman faculty. In one year Rose received eight different ILI grants.

Faculty at Rose developed an innovative Integrated First Year Curriculum in Science, Engineering and Mathematics that was formerly taken by one quarter of our first year students. Another group of faculty designed a core engineering curriculum for the sophomore year that is now part of the curricula of three engineering majors. This effort was partially funded from a $15 million, five-year Engineering Education Consortium grant from NSF.

Some people know about Rose-Hulman because of its mention in the rankings prepared by U. S. News & World Report and other organizations. For the past 16 years, Rose-Hulman has been ranked #1 among undergraduate engineering schools by U. S. News & World Report. In 2013 the computer science program at Rose-Hulman was identified by Affordable Colleges Online as the 16th best computer science program in the nation for return on investment – our graduates are high earners and thus reap excellent return on their tuition dollars.

Rose-Hulman has a long tradition of involvement with industry. Two grants totaling $55,000,000 from the Eli Lilly Foundation have created Rose-Hulman Ventures, a business incubator. At RHV, faculty are able to work with new companies on their new ideas and students are able to get support for their entrepreneurial efforts.

So we would not be surprised if you have heard something about Rose-Hulman. Learn more at www.rose-hulman.edu.

What academic calendar is used at Rose-Hulman?

Rose-Hulman has three ten-week academic terms per year. Each term is followed by a four-day examination period.

Fall term starts around the last week of August and examinations end the Thursday before Thanksgiving. Winter term starts the Monday after Thanksgiving with examinations ending in late February. Spring term examinations usually end the Thursday before Memorial Day. Commencement exercises are usually held Saturday of Memorial Day weekend. There is a small summer school program, which has seen an increase in the number of students and number of courses in recent years.

In addition to the two breaks between terms (each ten days long), there are a four-day weekend during Fall term, a two-week break over Christmas and New Years, and a one-week break in the middle of Spring term.

What is the normal student course load?

Students usually take four courses per ten-week term. Most non-introductory courses meet for four 50 minute periods per week. Almost all students are enrolled full time.

The astute reader will note that a Rose-Hulman course is approximately equivalent to a three-credit semester course (40 academic hours vs. 42 academic hours). Most Rose-Hulman students take at least a few extra courses some time during their studies. Thus our students take the equivalent of five years of courses during their four years of undergraduate studies. Yes, our students work hard. It is noteworthy that the student FTE (full time equivalent) enrollment at Rose-Hulman has on occasion been greater than the number of enrolled students.

What about student retention?

Most students complete their degree in four years. Our four-year graduation rate is approximately 70%, and our five-year graduation rate approaches 80%. Most students who withdraw do so during their first two years of study. A majority of the students who choose to leave the Institute do so to pursue degree programs not available at Rose-Hulman.

What future plans exist for the school?

During the 2011-2012 school year a coast-to-coast blanket of all of Rose-Hulman’s constituencies engaged in the “Great” Debate – how to make Rose-Hulman a great school. Last year a group of faculty and staff synthesized the results of the debate and generated six institute level goals and associated strategies which have formulated our strategic plan for the next five years. More detailed discussion about this can be found online. Champions for the strategies have been determined and several are being worked on in earnest this year.

What kind of social and work atmosphere is found at Rose-Hulman?

Rose-Hulman is a small community where students, faculty, administration, and staff work closely together to ensure a high-success rate for our students and help when success is hard to attain. The faculty and administration are very supportive of individual initiative, and foster many opportunities for students to get involved in activities that enhance their educational experience.

What is the Terre Haute community like?

Greater Terre Haute is the home of five college level institutions -- Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Indiana State University, St. Mary-of-the-Woods College, Harrison College, and a branch of Ivy Tech. Terre Haute is the home of Digital Audio Disc Corporation (DADC), the manufacturer of the first compact disc in the United States. Bemis, Ampacet, Great Dane, GE Aerospace, Applied Extrusion Technologies, Lilly, Alcan, and Pfizer are among the industries having large plants in or near the city.

Terre Haute has a wide variety of housing at prices that are much lower than in most parts of the country. Terre Haute has a symphony orchestra, a community theater, and numerous parks and outdoor recreational areas. Indianapolis is 70 miles away on Interstate 70. Chicago, St. Louis, Cincinnati and Louisville are each about a three-hour drive from Terre Haute.

Computer science degrees have been awarded since 1971. Initially the department was part of the Division of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. In 1987 the department became a completely independent academic unit, the Department of Computer Science. In 2001, in recognition of the growing importance of software engineering in our curriculum, we became the Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering. In 2003 a new undergraduate major in software engineering was approved. The first student to earn the software engineering major graduated in 2004. Next year a dual BS degree in International Computer Science will be launched with the University of Applied Sciences at Hochschule Ulm, Germany. The department moved into newly renovated space in 2003, greatly expanding our office and laboratory areas.

Who are the faculty in the department?

There are fourteen tenured and tenure-track faculty in the department. Our backgrounds are diverse. We hold Ph.D.’s in computer science, mathematics, computer engineering, electrical engineering, and biomedical engineering. Several of us have industrial experience. Many of us are active in our professional societies, including the ACM and several of its SIGs, and the IEEE and its constituent societies. Some of us have spent time overseas: David Mutchler taught at the University of Mauritius on a Fulbright award for teaching in developing countries, Matt Boutell also won a Fulbright award and taught at Copperbelt University in Zambia, and Cary Laxer has spent two sabbaticals overseas: a full year at UNITEC Institute of Technology in New Zealand, and a second year split between Uppsala University in Sweden and the University of Aizu in Japan. The present faculty and their interests are listed below.

We keep our doors open most of the time we are in our offices. We work long hours and spend lots of time with students. We try to create an atmosphere where learning is both expected and fostered. We strive to create a collegial atmosphere, one where students recognize that they are respected and valued. We are willing to ask our students questions that we cannot answer. We are also willing to listen to and learn from our students.

The faculty usually meet together for one hour each week. Decisions are typically made by consensus. Our goal is to make decisions that incorporate the insights of all the faculty members into our discussions. We respect each other and seek to learn from each other, recognizing that we have different strengths and weaknesses. We try by our actions to show our students that people with differing backgrounds, beliefs, and thought processes can actually do a better job and reach better decisions when they work as a team.

What are teaching duties like in the department?

Faculty members usually teach two or three sections each term. Classes either meet for four hours per week in a standard lecture style or six hours per week in a studio laboratory style (teaching and lab work incorporated into each two-hour class meeting).

The number of different preparations is kept as low as possible. We try to have all sections of multiple section courses taught by one or two faculty members. Recent growth in the number of computer science majors and the number of software engineering majors has increased the number of upper level courses that have multiple sections. Past experience indicates that faculty will usually have no more than one or two new preparations per year.

Some members of the faculty have substituted work at Rose-Hulman Ventures or funded contract work for some of their teaching duties. There is strong encouragement and support for such arrangements.

Are there international opportunities in the department?

The department firmly believes in the global education of its students. For the past eleven years students in CSSE have undertaken collaborative projects with students at Uppsala University in Sweden. A similar collaboration with Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey, has existed for five years. Recently, Rose-Hulman signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the University of Aizu in Japan, a new school that specializes in computer science education. Students have also participated in a term-long program for computer science and computer engineering students at Hochschule Ulm in Germany. A new dual degree program in International Computer Science with Hochschule Ulm will begin in 2015.

Many faculty have attended international conferences. A few have spent sabbaticals overseas. The department continues to look for new opportunities to expand the global education it can offer both its students and its faculty.

What graduate programs does the department offer?

The department launched a Master of Science in Software Engineering (MSSE) program in the fall of 2010, and the first MSSE students graduated in May 2013. This program is based in Indianapolis due to the growth of the software industry in that region. Further information is available online.

What future plans exist for the department?

The department is increasing its elective offerings in the areas of mobile computing, databases, web programming, and computer game development. We are constantly looking for new opportunities for our students and our faculty to achieve a global perspective on computer science and software engineering.

OUR STUDENTS

How many computer science and software engineering majors are there?

We graduated 55 majors at May’s commencement. At present there are 350 declared computer science and software engineering majors in the Institute. The number of majors has been growing steadily for the past few years. About 40% of our majors are software engineering majors and 60% are computer science majors, with many of them double majoring in the two. There are also about 100 computer engineering majors in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, all of whom take several CSSE courses.

What kinds of awards have our majors received?

Our students have been awarded NSF Graduate Fellowships and UPE scholarships. A team of five undergraduates was one of only 12 teams accepted into the student design competition of CHI 2011. Our newly formed Cyber Defense Team place third in the national Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition finals in 2013. Our ACM Programming Team has been invited to the world finals and participates regularly in regional competitions.

Which graduate schools do our majors attend?

Indiana University and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign are always popular choices. Others have attended MIT, Washington (St. Louis), Washington (Seattle), Michigan, Utah, Wisconsin, North Carolina (Chapel Hill) and Georgia Tech. The most common report we receive from students attending graduate schools is that graduate course work is easier than course work at Rose. Approximately 10-15% of our graduates have gone directly to graduate studies.

Which employers hire our graduates?

Recent graduates have gone to work for such firms as Microsoft, Beckman Coulter, Expedia, Apple, The Omni Group, Rose-Hulman Ventures, MIT Lincoln Labs, Texas Instruments, Amazon.com, Rockwell Collins, Google, Interactive Intelligence, Software Engineering Professionals, Avalon Consulting, GroupOn, and Enova. Companies that hire one of our graduates almost always attempt to employ additional ones when they have new openings. Our Career Fairs have more employers seeking our graduates than we have students to give them.

Several recent graduates have started their own firms. Three alumni (from 1996 and 1997) recently sold their anti-spam software company for $41.5 million, four years after founding it.

What are the placement rates and starting salaries for our graduates?

At commencement time, the placement for Rose-Hulman graduates, as well as our department’s graduates, is typically around 95%, approaching 99% six months later. The average accepted offer for computer science and software engineering graduates is about $20K higher than the all-institute average. Top offers to our graduates are exceeding $100K.

OUR CURRICULA

What courses are required for the undergraduate computer science major?

Listed below are all departmental courses required for the computer science major. The entries on the list include the course identification number, course name, and a textbook recently used for the course.

CSSE 120 Introduction to Software Development

Python for Everyone by Cay Horstmann

CSSE 132 Introduction to Computer Systems

Computer Systems: A Programmer’s Perspective, by Randal Bryant and David O’Hallaron

What courses are required for the undergraduate software engineering major?

Listed below are all departmental courses required for the software engineering major. The entries on the list include the course identification number, course name, and a textbook recently used for the course.

CSSE 120 Introduction to Software Development

Python for Everyone by Cay Horstmann

CSSE 132 Introduction to Computer Systems

Computer Systems: A Programmer’s Perspective, by Randal Bryant and David O’Hallaron

A variety of seminar topics are offered as 1 day/1 credit courses on the RHIT campus.

Are the computer science and software engineering curricula accredited by ABET?

Yes. Rose-Hulman went through its most recent ABET reaccreditation process during the 2012-2013 academic year and all programs received full accreditation for the maximum six-year period. Our software engineering program is one of only 22 ABET accredited software engineering programs in the United States, and the only one in Indiana.

One former (retired) and one current member of the faculty serve as program evaluators, one for computer science and one for both. The department pays very close attention to accreditation standards when designing its major curricula.

What is unusual or unique about the major curricula?

The computer science curriculum requires students to master both theory and practice, and it has a significant emphasis on software engineering concepts throughout the courses. Students in both majors spend a significant amount of time working in teams – they begin working in pairs, and in teams, from our first course on. Most courses have a significant term team project where students implement the theory they have learned.

Our junior software engineering sequence, of which two courses are also taken by computer science majors, exposes our students early to a significant team development experience BEFORE they begin their senior project (see next paragraph). Students get their first exposure to working on a project for a real client in this sequence while the faculty instruct and mentor them on modern software engineering concepts.

Both curricula also include a three-term (full-year) capstone experience. Most students complete a group software development project for an external client. Recent clients have included Avalon Consulting, Key Associates, Neoteric Hovercraft, My Right Career, Microsoft, Applegate LLC, MARC, and the Rose-Hulman Alumni Office. Qualified computer science students may complete a senior thesis or a senior research project. Current topics students are researching include quadratic minimum spanning trees, aggregation of 2-dimensional synthetic bone images into 3-dimensional material models, detecting image manipulations in photographs of scenes that contain curved reflective surfaces, a functional domain specific language for writing 3D video games, adaptive web browsing with machine learning, and computational methods for accurate weather prediction. A handful of senior theses are done in conjunction with faculty in other departments, most notably Mathematics, but also Biology and Biomedical Engineering, and Electrical and Computer Engineering.

The department is involved in several innovative curricular endeavors. Thanks to the efforts of colleague David Mutchler, our first course is now an inverted classroom where class time is focused on coaching students on implementation of fundamental software development concepts. Multidisciplinary studies in robotics and imaging systems are available to majors in our department. Several of our students participate in Rose-Hulman’s HERE (Home for Environmentally Responsible Engineering) program.

What are some of the important non-technical components of the major experience?

We incorporate exercises requiring writing and speaking into our courses. Many assignments are given to a team of students with the whole team responsible for the assignment. Ethical issues and concerns are an integral part of many of our courses.

We try to get our students to appreciate the diversity of intellectual and problem solving activities. We expect our students to succeed even though their computing and work environments will continually and rapidly change after they graduate. We attempt to prepare our students for an unknown future. And we probably make a few mistakes.

OUR COMPUTING FACILITIES

What is the role of computers in the Rose-Hulman curriculum?

Computers and computing are central to the Rose-Hulman experience. Since 1995 all entering students have been required to purchase a laptop computer. The Lenovo ThinkPad W530 was selected for the 2013 – 2014 school year. The computer comes with a professional software package that includes Microsoft Office 2010, Maple 15 (Computer Algebra System), AutoCAD, and Working Model.

What computing facilities are available in the department?

The departmental computer network is a subnet of the Rose-Hulman network. We have root access to all of our machines.

The department maintains a number of publicly available workstations of various architectures. We have smartphones, tablets, OSX machines, and a Microsoft Surface table for student and faculty use. There are additional machines that provide network and file services for the department’s computers. All faculty have a recent (< 4 years old) version of the student laptop machine. Two full-time systems administrators manage the departmental network.

What are the department laboratories like?

The department has two general purpose computing laboratories located in the center of the department office complex on the second floor of Moench Hall. We have replaced most of the traditional workstations in these labs with docking stations, flat panel monitors, and external keyboards for the students’ laptops. The arrangement allows students to work in teams fairly easily.

The Rockwell Collins Usability Lab allows software engineering students to learn about, and do, software usability testing. We may be the only undergraduate software engineering program to have such a facility. Software engineering students are required to use the lab as part of their coursework.

How is the computing equipment updated?

Funding of approximately $1M per year is available at the institute level for equipment purchases. The department heads submit prioritized equipment requests to the Dean of Faculty each fall, and the pool of funds is divided very amicably among all the departments in one meeting. Our department has received its fair share each year, enabling us to get just about everything we want. Recent equipment purchases have included new robots, new tablets and smartphones, new sound equipment in our labs, new servers for VMs, and additional memory for our servers.

What course management software is available?

Rose-Hulman recently adopted Moodle as its course management software. Faculty are encouraged to use Moodle in their teaching. Workshops on using Moodle are offered at the beginning of the academic year for faculty unfamiliar with the software.

WORKING CONDITIONS AND COMPENSATION

What is the normal teaching load?

Rose-Hulman is an institution dedicated to teaching and learning. Faculty normally have a teaching load of 12 contact hours per week. This usually means either three courses, each meeting four times per week, or two courses, each meeting six hours per week in three two-hour blocks. Some of the department faculty also spend about an hour per week advising a senior thesis student.

What is expected of Rose-Hulman faculty?

Rose-Hulman faculty members are expected to be outstanding teachers. They are also expected to continue to be outstanding teachers. In order to continue to be an outstanding teacher a faculty member must engage in continuing professional development and scholarly activity.

Individual faculty members are free to choose how they continue to develop as professionals. Clear evidence of scholarly activities and continued professional development is required for tenure and promotion.

Members of the faculty also act as academic advisors, serve as advisors to co-curricular or social groups, undertake committee work, and perform other professional and community service activities as a part of their duties.

What about consulting work during the school year and during the summers?

It is traditional at engineering schools to support consulting activities by faculty. All faculty employed full time at Rose-Hulman are encouraged to do consulting work. No special permission is required. It is understood that consulting should be limited to no more than 20% of the workweek and that consulting activities should not interfere with regular campus duties.

What salaries and fringe benefits are provided faculty?

Faculty salaries are very competitive.

All Rose-Hulman employees receive the following fringe benefits: medical insurance (preferred provider plan), life insurance (twice salary), disability insurance (after one year of employment), retirement (10% of salary is contributed after one year of employment), and a dependent tuition benefit (full tuition for children who attend Rose-Hulman after one year of service and partial tuition assistance at other institutions is available after five years of service). There is a nominal contribution (less than $150 per month, depending on coverage and salary) by the employee for health insurance. The costs of the rest of the fringe benefits are fully paid by the Institute. In addition, a vision and dental insurance plan is available through the Institute. This plan is completely voluntary and is paid for by the employee.

Faculty members and their families may use the athletic facilities and attend sports events free of charge. Faculty are able to purchase discounted tickets to the Performing Arts Series in Hatfield Hall on campus. Parking on campus is also free to everyone.

THE HIRING PROCESS

Whom are we looking to hire?

We seek to improve the overall strength of our department both through hiring excellent faculty and providing the best environment to grow into extraordinary educators. We seek to hire candidates that possess the love of teaching and have strong academic credentials. This means that we are prepared to hire candidates that may be even stronger than we are, as it will better serve our students and academic goals. If we are to improve our department, our school, our curricula, and the education that our students receive, then we must find new faculty who are not only better than we are but also willing and able to challenge us to become better than we thought we could be. If Rose is to become the best, then new faculty must be people who will help us get there.

Applicants should be aware that it is a policy at Rose to hire the (talented) person, not merely to fill an available (departmental) position. This means that positions will be created for exceptional candidates and that open positions will be left unfilled if suitable candidates are not available.

A cover letter, a curriculum vitae or resume, a statement on your teaching philosophy, and a statement on your professional development goals. The cover letter should address your experience, why you are interested in the position, and any special attributes you would bring to the department. If possible, you should submit unofficial copies of relevant graduate transcripts.

References (at least 3) should be asked to submit letters directly to the above URL.

Ads are appearing in several locations during the fall of 2014. Review of completed applications will begin on November 30, 2014. We will make every effort to keep applicants informed about the status of their applications.